The Indianapolis Star deleted a racist Gary Varvel cartoon depicting an illegal immigrant family climbing through the window while a white family had Thanksgiving dinner. Wow, really? The fact is, not all illegal immigrants are Hispanics.

The paper issued a non-apology, stating “Gary did not intend to be racially insensitive in his attempt to express his strong views about President Barack Obama’s decision to temporarily prevent the deportation of millions of immigrants living and working illegally in the United States.”

The cartoon depicted an immigrant family climbing through a window of a white family’s home as Thanksgiving dinner was served. I was uncomfortable with the depiction when I saw it after it was posted. We initially decided to leave the cartoon posted to allow readers to comment and because material can never truly be eliminated once it is circulating on the web. But we are removing the cartoon from the opinion section of our website, as well as an earlier version posted on Facebook that showed one character with a mustache.

This action is not a comment on the issue of illegal immigration or a statement about Gary’s right to express his opinions strongly. We encourage and support diverse opinion. But the depictions in this case were inappropriate; his point could have been expressed in other ways.

This is scare-mongering at its worst. The fact is President Obama isn’t encouraging more illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. Besides, Congress has yet to pass a bill….

Bernadette Lancelin didn’t hesitate to let it be known she is against helping the hundreds of unaccompanied kids streaming across the U.S. border from Mexico and Central America.

During a profanity-laced interview with Houston’s Fox 26, Lancelin went off saying that her kids have had little help from the government and she doesn’t want the billions of dollars President Obama is requesting from Congress to be spent on the kids who came to America illegally.

Lancelin said, “It’s not right. Now billions of dollars want to be borrowed from the White House to help feed and house them.” “What about the goddam kids here? In our neighborhood? In our country? Not just in this neighborhood but in our country?”

“All these kids? Really? Why can’t they go back?” Lancelin asked. “I’m sorry that their parents are in poor living conditions or surroundings or whatever’s going on out there. I don’t care.”

Clearly exasperated, Bernadette Lancelin asked, “Am I the only one in this community that’s out here that watches the news every goddamn morning? Oh, my God. I feel alone right now in this and I’m very saddened by it.”

It’s safe to say many people share similar views on this growing crisis. My position is that these children need to be sent back to their respective countries.

Glenn Beck to Help the 60,000 Underage Refugees Who Have Crossed US Borders (Credit: Wikipedia)

When Glenn Beck is the voice of reason for the right wing, then you know they are in deeper trouble than they care to admit. I was pleasantly surprised to see him take a position of helping the 60,000 undocumented children who came across the U.S. border. Instead of joining the right wing chorus and blaming President Obama, Beck is willing to help those children in some way. That’s admirable. Yeah, I didn’t think that’s a word I would ever use to describe Glenn Beck.

Glenn Beck on Tuesday announced that he will be bringing tractor-trailers full of food, water, teddy bears and soccer balls to McAllen, Texas on July 19 as a way to help care for some of the roughly 60,000 underage refugees who have crossed into America illegally in 2014.

Beck said he will be joined by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), and a number of pastors and rabbis.

“Through no fault of their own, they are caught in political crossfire,” Beck said of the children. “And while we continue to put pressure on Washington and change its course of lawlessness, we must also help. It is not either, or. It is both. We have to be active in the political game, and we must open our hearts.”

Beck said that “everybody” told him not to talk about other controversial issues, like the caliphate, in the past, and that he is hearing the same thing about his stance that we must care for the children who have crossed into America illegally.

“Everybody is telling me I’m seeing subscriptions down; I’m seeing Mercury One donations down,” Beck said, growing emotional. “I’m getting violent emails from people who say I’ve ‘betrayed the Republic.’ Whatever. I’ve never taken a position more deadly to my career than this — and I have never, ever taken a position that is more right than this.”

“We’re going to fill some tractor-trailers with food, with water,” Beck said. “The churches have asked us if we could bring teddy bears and soccer balls, so we’ve loaded up a whole tractor-trailer of nothing but teddy bears and soccer balls. And then I’m going to go serve breakfast and lunch, and I’m going to help unload these trucks, hot meals for 3,000. That’s what we’re doing.” Source: The Blaze

So, instead of Caribou Barbie, half-term governor Sarah Palin screaming that it’s time to impeach President Obama for treating the U.S. like a “battered wife,” how about offering up some real solutions? Seems like Glenn Beck beat her and the rest of the right wingnuts to it.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry continues to amaze me as to how he got elected in the first place. Martha Raddatz cut him on during his appearance on ABC News after he spent four minutes defending a ridiculous conspiracy theory that President Obama planned to fill up the United States with illegal immigrants.

Perry made the assertion on Fox News last week, but of course, they didn’t take him to task, since that fits in quite nicely with their views. Perry accused President Obama of being responsible for the mass influx of undocumented immigrants, including children, streaming across the borders.

Perry said, “We either have an incredibly inept administration, or they’re in on this somehow or another.” He added, “I mean I hate to be conspiratorial, but I mean how do you move that many people from Central America across Mexico and then into the United States without there being a fairly coordinated effort?”

On Sunday, Martha Raddatz gave Perry a chance to walk back those comments but he dug into. She asked, “Governor, do you really believe there’s some sort of conspiracy to get people into the United States by the federal governmenet, by the Obama administration?”

Gov. Perry responded, “When I have written a letter that is dated May of 2012, and I have yet to have a response from this administration, I will tell you they either are inept or don’t care, and that is my positio.” “We have been bringing to the attention of President Obama and his administration since 2010, he received a letter from me on the tarmac… I have to believe that when you do not respond in any way, that you are either inept, or you have some ulterior motive of which you are functioning from.” Really? Wow.

Well, Gov. Perry went on….

“Unless we secure our southern border, this is going to continue to be a massive amount of individuals that are coming to the United States,” Perry warned. “And, frankly, we don’t have a place to house them as it is. And if we have a major event, a hurricane that comes in to the Gulf Coast, I don’t have a place to be housing people who are displaced because this administration…”

Wow, really dude? At that point, Martha Raddatz cut him off. Enough of the crap. What the heck is it with Texas? So many wingnut politicians in one state, from both political parties.

CHRISTMAS DAY TRAGEDY: Eighteen Haitian migrants died Wednesday when their overloaded sailboat overturned as it was being escorted ashore in the Turks and Caicos Islands, officials said.

The sailboat, which had about 50 people on board, abruptly capsized about 150 yards from the island of Providenciales, said Neil Smith, a spokesman for the government. The cause was not immediately known but overloading was a likely factor, he said.

About two hours earlier, in the pre-dawn hours of Christmas, the marine branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force had intercepted the sloop as a suspected migrant vessel and was escorting it to shore, Smith said.

Police recovered 18 bodies and are continuing to search for more with the assistance of divers and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.

Authorities rescued 32 people from the water and they are in custody on suspicion of attempting to illegally enter the territory. They were in custody in Providenciales, the territory’s most populated island.

YouTube: “Carmen Lima, 13, of Arizona, and Jennifer Martinez, 16, of Washington state, confront Speaker Boehner at breakfast. Carmen, who hasn’t seen her father since she was ten, and Jennifer, whose father was detained for several months by ICE, tell Speaker Boehner how our broken immigration system affected their families and ask for his support on immigration reform.”

Should United Kingdom’s Home Office tweet updates on arrests, including pixelated photos of suspects, who are allegedly working illegally in the UK after several raids? What ever happened to a person is innocent until proven guilty? The tweets were tagged with the hashtag #immigrationoffenders. While most posts mentioned those targeted were suspects, one did not. The official tweets about the raids have been described by critics as ‘dystopian’ and likened to ‘UK Hunger Games,’ the Guardian reports.

These arrests come in the wake of the “go home or face arrest” campaign being waged against illegal immigrants. It has been ripped as “racist and intimidatory” by critics.

The immigration minister, Mark Harper, said: in a statement: “Today’s operations highlight the routine work we are carrying out every day to stamp out illegal working. We are sending a clear message to employers who choose to use illegal labour – we will find you and you will pay a heavy penalty.” Source: Guardian

A group of bipartisan senators have unveiled an immigration overhaul bill that comes a day before President Obama unveils his bill tomorrow in Las Vegas. It is clear that the House Republicans, who are beholden to the Tea Party, will most likely object, but this will only work in President Obama’s favor.

According to a five-page draft of the plan obtained by The New York Times on Sunday, the eight senators — including Mr. McCain; Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York; and Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina — have agreed to address the failings of the immigration system in one comprehensive measure, rather than in smaller pieces, and to offer a “tough, fair and practical road map” that would eventually lead to a chance at citizenship for nearly all of the immigrants here illegally.

“We on the Democratic side have said that we are flexible and we want to get a bill,” Mr. Schumer told reporters in New York on Sunday. “But there’s a bottom line, and that’s a path to citizenship for the 11 or so million people who qualify. We’ve made great, great progress with our Republican colleagues.”

Under the senators’ plan, most illegal immigrants would be able to apply to become permanent residents — a crucial first step toward citizenship — but only after certain border enforcement measures had been accomplished.

Among the plan’s new proposals is the creation of a commission of governors, law enforcement officials and community leaders from border states that would assess when border security measures had been completed. A proposal would also require that an exit system be in place for tracking departures of foreigners who entered the country through airports or seaports, before any illegal immigrants could start on a path to citizenship. Source

While I am for immigration reform, I would urge lawmakers to ensure that people who are going through the process legally be given the first shot and not pushed to the back of the line. Of course, people like Michelle Malkin, who is a Filippino-American, is having a heart-attack over the proposed legislation, branding it “shamnesty redux.”

I would venture to say that throwing “amnesty” at immigrants, specifically the Hispanic community, won’t have them running back into their arms come 2016. The base of the Republican Party has insulted immigrants for years — self-deportation, compared to dogs, etc. One election cycle isn’t enough to erase the ugly rhetoric of people on the right such as Michelle Malkin.

Sen. John McCain backs the Dream Act and path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Sen. McCain said on ABC’s “This Week,” “We can’t go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows in an illegal status. We cannot forever have children who were born here — who were brought here by their parents when they were small children to live in the shadows, as well.” This is a stark departure from the hardline stance many in the Republican Party have taken on immigration reform, including former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who suggested that self-deportation was an option.